Date - 3-3-07 Day - Saturday Start - Banbury Town centre End - Cropredy 1830 hrs
Apart from the noise of the rain last night our mooring in the centre of Banbury was very quiet. The rain stopped early this morning and the day was very pleasant with blue skys and bright sunshine. We had a very successful day at Banbury with a stand on the towpath opposite the Castle Quay shopping centre where we were moored with "Grey Heron" On the other side of the canal the canoe club from Cropredy had a dry canoe training machine set up. this was very similar to a rowing machine but with a canoe paddle attached to lines instead of oars. In the shopping centre its self we had another small stand where we also collected signatures for the local MP's petition. During the course of the afternoon we met a few fellow Cutwebers including Tony and Jenny from "Jenny B", Mike from "Felis Catus III" and Paul and Karen off "Daniel Oakley" We finally packed everything away at 4pm and set off at 4-30 pm . There was a tremendous amount of water flowing into the canal just north of Tesco bend, the flow was so great that it required a lot of power to make any headway at all. At Hardwick lock we found the bottom gates wide open so were able to sail straight in, by now it was turning cool and the sun was very low in the sky. Just prior to Bourton Lock we met an Ownership's boat so although the gates were closet the lock was with us and then as we approached Slat Mill Lock the bottom gate opened and again we sailed straight in, this time "Water Snail" was waiting above the lock to come down. From here it was a short run into Cropredy and as we completed this last bit a very large moon was rising in the eastern sky. We moored for the night at the same spot we moored on Thursday night, I just hope I don't pick up anther coal sack when I leave in the morning like last time. -- Brian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Visit this site and help save our waterways http://www.savethewaterways.org.uk/
